


A Hard Knock Life V:  Betrayal

by eerian_sadow



Series: Melodies of Life [6]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Assault, F/M, Plug and Play Sexual Interfacing, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-10
Updated: 2014-07-10
Packaged: 2018-02-08 06:09:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1929621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eerian_sadow/pseuds/eerian_sadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The good things can only last for so long.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Hard Knock Life V:  Betrayal

**Author's Note:**

> many, many thanks to wicked3659, for cheerleading me and getting me back to work on this when the story had stalled out in my head.

__**File Recieved 5.20.145R  
Sent 5.20.145R  
Public Data Point 6432**

_No more waiting. All other pieces are in position to fill the vacuum left by removing the target. Remove it by the end of this cycle or another agent will be assigned to your position._

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"It's a nice night, since we're still passing that binary system. We should walk through the Garden." Spotter laced her arm through Prowl's and smiled.

He looked back at her and shook his head. "As pleasant as that sounds, we both have to appear in court at the beginning of the duty cycle. We need to go home and rest, not stay up all rest cycle enjoying the star light in the Garden. "

"Killjoy." The femme gave him a playful smile. "Come on, just a short walk. Who knows when we'll have a chance like this again."

"Spotter..."

"Please, Prowl. Just a short walk through the outskirts of the Garden." She squeezed his arm tightly. "I want to remember this night forever."

The mech sighed and nodded. "Very well. A short walk. Then I must return to my apartment. It is already later than I wanted to stay out."

"Sure," Spotter agreed, clearly pleased that she had gotten her way. "I'll even walk you to your door."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"Hey, Sunstreaker, you want to get out of here early tonight?"

Sunstreaker looked up at the mech who had spoken. "Thought you were supposed to be out on that job in Perihex, Wreaker."

"I was." The demolitions expert flopped heavily into the chair next to the former artist. "They called before shift today and said my services were no longer required."

"Idiots." The yellow mech frowned. "You have any other prospects lined up?"

"Not yet. Figured I'd use the temple computers to start looking again, if you wanted to get out of here for the night."

"Sure. You need it more than me, anyway."

"Thanks, mech." Wreaker gave him a weak smile.

"No problem. Phalanx come back with you?"

"Yeah. He said he'd be seeing if your brother would trade with him."

Sunstreaker gave a single, short laugh. "He'll be halfway home by now, then. I better go catch up with him."

"Thanks again," the other mech said. "Let me know if I can ever pick up a shift for you."

"I will." The warrior said, though he knew he probably never would. They were still working at the temple to have something to do, not because they needed the money. 

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"Smokescreen, I think you need to see this."

"What's up, Streets?" the Detective looked away from his report and up at the young captain.

Streetstar laid a data pad down in front of the older mech. "Sorter found these hidden on the Commissioner's private server. Most of them are dated well before Prowl took over, but some of them are recent. The last one came in today, in fact."

Smokescreen activated the data pad and skimmed over the entries. "Slag me. Someone is arranging a hit."

"I don't think I need to tell you the likely targets."

"You don't." The blue and yellow mech stood up and scooped the data pad into his subspace. "Get on the comms with Onslaught; we can trust him. Tell him I need him here in Central. Then find Barrage and get him in here too."

"What about you?"

"I have to go find Prowl and Spotter. They were going out tonight; neither of them will answer their comms unless we use the emergency lines, and that might tip off our hitmech."

"Be careful, Smokey. You don't know who else might be in on this."

"I know." The detective tossed his friend a grin before making his way to the door. "That's why I'm going out there, and you're staying here. If I call, grab whoever's close and come running."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"I'm so glad we took this time off," Spotter said, resting her head against Prowl's shoulder as he keyed in the code to unlock the door. "It was a perfect night."

"It was nice," Prowl agreed. "I am glad you convinced me to spend time in the Garden. I had no idea the light would display so beautifully."

"Neither did I," she confessed, "But my guardian always said that it was a sight I had to see before I deactivated, so I knew it had to be special."

"It certainly was." The black and white mech opened the door. "Would you like to come in? We've already destroyed my schedule and the Twins are working at the Temple tonight."

"Mm, that sounds like the perfect way to end our night." Spotter followed him as he stepped inside.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"Hey, Sunny, let's stop for a snack. There's a whipped energon stand over there and I haven't had whipped energon since before you sold your first painting."

"There's a reason for that, you know," Sunstreaker replied dryly. He did stop and transform, though. "Whipped energon is all additives and no useful nutrients."

"Yeah, but it tastes so good!" Sideswipe transformed and grinned at his brother. "And it won't hurt this once."

"Oh, like I believe you'll stop at once, now that you know this place is here."

"I'm hurt, Sunny. I cannot believe you have so little faith in me."

"Oh, I have tons of faith in you." The yellow mech gave his twin a playful shove. "I just know you too well."

"Just like I know you'll have little rust sprinkles on top of yours." The red mech pinned his brother with a knowing look. "And you'll do it every time you stop, too, because you like the way it crunches."

Sunstreaker grumbled softly, but didn't argue as Sideswipe made his way to the roadside stand.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

_"Smokescreen."_

The young mech's worries eased a fraction when Onslaught's no-nonsense tone came across his comm line. "Onslaught, are you on your way to Central?"

 _"Steelspark is on his way to Central, along with several trusted members of his staff. I am en route to your location."_ The large mech's tone was disapproving. _"Even if he is your family, you should not head into a situation like this with no backup."_

"There wasn't time for backup. Did you bring any of your people with you? We can find Prowl and Spotter more quickly if we can split up."

_"Myself and Blast Off. He is currently providing us with aerial cover. There is no one else in Southern that I know can be trusted."_

Smokescreen resisted the urge to scream at the corruption that had infected the Enforcers. Blast Off was armed and armored enough to be a one-mech tactical operation, but three of them couldn't possibly cover all the places his cousin might have gone. "All right. We'll just have to make do with what we have. How long til rendezvous?"

_"Twelve kliks."_

"Not long. Great. Alter your course slightly and meet me at the dance hall. Prowl was supposed to be taking Spotter to one of those Starshimmer shows she likes so much."

_"Affirmative."_

Once Onslaught closed the channel, it occurred to Smokescreen that he had been giving the mech orders like a rookie. He really hoped that wasn't going to cause problems in the near future.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Prowl sighed as Spotter ran her fingers down his chest plates. The touch was light, almost teasing, but it pleasantly stimulated the sensors under his armor and spread warmth across his sensor net.

"Open up for me, lover," she purred. "I want to see all of you tonight."

"I want to see you, too." He moved his own hand to trace the seam along the front of her chest, just over her spark.

The femme smiled and unlatched her chestplates. Prowl smiled and did the same. 

Spotter teased at the black and white mech's alt-mode lights for a moment before laying her hands down on his chest and spreading the plates wide. The room was brightened by the bright blue light from his spark. "Beautiful."

"So are you." The commissioner reached up to open her chest plates as well, adding the gold light of her spark to the room's illumination. It cast her face into an odd sort of shadow, making her look like a creature from legend and not the vibrant femme he knew. "I love you."

He thought he saw her frown, but in the uneven lighting he wasn't certain. Then Spotter dispelled his worries by leaning up to kiss him. "Love you, too."

"Merge with me?" Prowl knew the question was overly hopeful; the femme had never been willing to go that far in all the vorns they had been a couple.

"I can't," She whispered, sounding regretful. Then she reached up and ran her fingers along the interface jack at the edge of his spark chamber. "Let me plug in? I want tonight to be special."

The taller mech shivered at her touch, pleasure sensors lighting up and banishing many of his higher thought processes. He wanted to be connected to the femme in his berth, in any way she was willing to share. Prowl activated the protocols that would allow their systems to link and opened the cover on the jack. "Yes."

Spotter's smile widened and she kissed him again. Then the brown and gold femme reached up next to her own spark chamber and drew out her interface cable. With steady fingers, she unspooled the cord as he watched and lowered the plug toward his jack.

He groaned when it clicked into place with a small spark of static and a burst of junk data to test the connection. "Spotter, please, let me connect to you."

"I--" She frowned again, then covered the expression with a surge of _want_ and love across the connection. "All right."

The mech trembled at the pleasure of feeling her emotions across their link. He tried to reach for his own data cable, but the femme brushed his shaking fingers aside.

"Let me do the work tonight," she said, reaching for the recess that held his cable.

"All right." Prowl moved his hands away from his spark casing and reached for the hinges of her doorwings instead. As she unspooled his interface cable, he massaged the sensors just below the hinges.

Her end of the connection was flooded with pleasure as she snapped his cable into her jack. "Prowl!"

He pulsed _love_ and _desire_ across the link. "I would be a poor partner if I let you do all the work."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"They are not here," Onslaught said, meeting Smokescreen in the dance hall foyer. "The Seeker at the concession desk said that he saw them leave during intermission."

"Frag." Smokescreen resisted the urge to punch the door frame and draw attention to them. "They never do that. Why would they leave early? Spotter loves these stupid shows."

"Perhaps they wanted privacy."

"Prowl maybe, but that femme would do things in public that would embarrass me." The younger mech stepped through the doors and back outside, confident that Onslaught would follow. "If you wanted privacy where would you go?"

"Back to my own quarters," the deputy commissioner replied without hesitation. "It is where I would feel most secure and able to engage in any intimate acts."

"You and intimacy do not belong in the same sentence," Smokescreen said, walking to the street. He dropping into his alternate mode and took off toward Prowl's house. "But you're not wrong and I'm an idiot. He's way too private to do anything where people could see him."

Onslaught did not respond to the blue and yellow mech's teasing. He simply dropped into his own alternate mode and followed, hoping they would not be too late.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The commissioner cried out as he overloaded, pleasure searing across his sensor net and leaving him in a strutless heap on the berth. Spotter echoed the sound a moment later and slumped across his chest. Neither of them moved for long moments as their systems reset.

"That was incredible," he told her after his was capable of higher functions again. "It's been too long since we've done that."

"I know," Spotter replied softly. She reached up and disconnected his interface cable from her jack and guided it as it retracted back into its housing. He caught a flash of true remorse from her a moment before she disconnected her own cable. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Prowl sat up, resting a hand on her back to support her as he changed positions. She looked away from him as he moved. "Spotter?"

"I'm sorry," She said again. "I really did love you."

"What?" The black and white mech had only a moment to be confused before a flicker of pink light caught his attention. His optics went wide when he saw the energon blade in her hand.

He threw her off his lap as she lunged toward his spark. The knife scraped across the surface of his spark chamber and he hissed in pain. Spotter growled as she hit the floor.

"Why couldn't you make this easy?" She asked, picking herself up as Prowl edged off the berth and toward the door. "Why couldn't you just go into recharge and let me send you off gently? I didn't want you to know it was me!"

"Why are you doing this?!" Prowl dodged as she lunged again, moving away from the door and his chances of escaping without having to damage her. He was still having trouble thinking of his lover as a threat, and he didn't want to hurt her.

"Because it's you or me, Prowl. If I don't finish the job, we both die."

"Smokescreen will know it was you. You'll die anyway, because you'll be a liability to whoever has put you up to this."

"Oh, Prowl." She darted forward, slamming her free hand into his abdominal plating and shoving him against the wall. "You have no idea how far up this goes. Smokescreen is not a threat. And if he makes himself one, well..."

Prowl felt his lines go cold at her causal threat. Assassinating him made sense, even if he couldn't fathom why Spotter was the assassin, but Smokescreen was nothing more than a highly ranked detective. 

"You wouldn't." He raised a knee to shove her away and she retaliated by stabbing the knife into it. He called on all his training to keep from crying out a way and to stay focused on her.

"If I have to, I will." Spotter pulled the knife out of his leg and brought it up toward his chest. He raised an arm to block as she brought it down. "Stop fighting me! It'll be easier if you just let it happen!"

"You are insane if you think I will stop fighting after you threatened my cousin." Prowl brought his Injured leg back up and slammed it into her abdominal plates.

The femme grunted and staggered backward. The black and white mech limped toward her, intent on restraining her. Spotter countered by moving around him, edging toward the door and trying to cut off his escape route.

"I'm sorry, Prowl. I can't let you go." 

"I know," the commissioner replied. He knew he sounded as spark broken as he felt; the depth of Spotter's betrayal shook him to his core. Then he settled into a ready stance, modified to take his injury into account. "But you won't be leaving as a free mechanism, either."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Sunstreaker laughed at his twin as Sideswipe fumbled the lock code for the second time. "Grow up, you newspark. Even if they are home, you are never going to walk in on Prowl interfacing in the sitting room."

"Prowl no, Spotter yes," the red mech replied, putting the security code for a third try. "Have you heard her tell stories about her kinky interface life? She makes me look like a rookie."

"Some of us know how to tune those stories out," the yellow mech replied. He nudged his brother aside as the lock beeped unhappily at a bad code again. He keyed in the correct code and opened the door with a huff. "Idiot."

"I'm not an idiot," Sideswipe defended, following his brother into the house. "I'm just clumsy after I've had that much energon. It makes me jittery."

"You keep telling yourself whatever helps you recharge soundly," Sunstreaker told him.

"Hey--" The red twin started to protest, but was interrupted by a loud thump and Prowl crying out. "Oh my Primus. I told you she was kinky."

"Shut up, idiot." The yellow twin frowned as Prowl cried out again, clearly in pain. The cry was followed by the sound of something glass or crystal shattering. "That was not a mech who's enjoying himself. Something's wrong."

Sideswipe stopped and listened to the sounds--another heavy thump and a femme screaming in frustration--and mirrored his brother's expression. "We've got to help them!"

"No slag!" Sunstreaker snarled. He broke into and run toward Prowl's room and Sideswipe wasted no time following.

The door was closed and locked when they reached it. Sunstreaker growled at it, then dug his fingers into the frame and began pulling at the edge of the door. Sideswipe shouldered his way in beside him and dug his fingers in as well. They pulled against the locking mechanism of the door as Spotter screamed in pain and something else inside Prowl's room broke with a crash.

 _"Why won't you die?!"_ Spotter screamed.

Sideswipe felt his fuel pump stop.

"Pull harder!" Sunstreaker commanded. "We have to get in there!"

The red mech nodded and shifted his feet so that he was braced more firmly. Then, he _pulled_ , straining his shoulders and stipping the black paint off his fingers as he struggled. Next to him, his brother was doing the same. They could hear the fight raging on the other side, and Sideswipe was beginning to despair of getting into the room in time. 

"I can feel it shifting," the yellow mech said. "Keep pulling. When it opens, you go in."

"Right." Now that Sunstreaker had mentioned it, Sideswipe could feel the door shifting on its track, too. It wouldn't be usable once they'd gotten through, but a minor repair was nothing in the face of Spotter trying to kill Prowl.

That was something he didn't want to think about too hard until much, much later.

Prowl screamed in pain again and both of them clearly heard the sound of metal shearing. Sideswipe had time to hope it wasn't one of his doorwings and then the door opened with a screech.

"Go!" Sunstreaker ordered. The red mech darted through the door and launched himself at Spotter the moment he saw her.

The femme screamed in rage as Sideswipe barrelled into her, knocking her off Prowl's chest. She flailed at him with the energon blade in her hand, but she wasn't nearly skilled enough with it to do any major damage. He blocked one strike with his left hand and reached forward to punch her in the face with his right.

Spotter hissed angrily and pulled her knife hand back as his punch fell. He didn't have time to move as she came up under his blocking arm and stabbed him below the shoulder joint, in one of the few places on his body that wasn't still covered in arena-grade armor. His punch connected as the pain lanced across his sensor net and the femme went limp. 

"Prowl!" Sunstreaker's shout made him turn and he took in the commissioner's injuries in horror. The yellow mech was trying to stop the flow of energon and vital fluids from the chest plate Spotter had managed to cut partway off and Prowl was bleeding from a number of other, more minor wounds. "Prowl, come on, look at me."

Sideswipe watched his brother try to stabalize the black and white mech long enough to see his optics flicker on, then he focused on the half-conscious femme he had pinned down. He ignored the knife still stuck in his coolant line--he had taken worse damage in the pits on a regular basis--and focused on restraining her. Spotter wasn't in the same combat class as any of them, despite what Prowl's injuries said, but he didn't want to give her a chance to fight free and run.

The brown and gold femme hissed as the gladiator grabbed her hands and pinned them above her head, but she didn't make any other move.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

_"Smokescreen, you need to get home fast. Spotter tried to kill Prowl."_

Smokescreen came to a dead stop in the street that lead to the house at Sunstreaker's comm. "What?"

_"Spotter tried to kill Prowl. He needs a medic."_

Onslaught came to a calmer stop next to the younger mech. "What happened?"

"Spotter tried to kill Prowl. She was the assassin." The detective felt sick. "Sunstreaker, are you with him?"

_"Yeah. Sides and I got here in time to save him, but she did a lot of damage. I don't think he was expecting this."_

"None of us were." Smokescreen started moving again, losing some of his frantic urgency now that he knew Prowl was with the twins, even if he was injured. If there happened to be a second assassin, his cousin would be safe with them. "Onslaught, Sunny says Prowl needs a medic. Can you call it in and have Blast Off escort them in? I'm... I'm not sure I can handle it."

If Onslaught judged him poorly for his show of weakness, he was wise enough not to say anything about it. "Of course. Will we need a coroner for Spotter?"

"I don't know. I didn't think to ask." The blue and yellow mech took a moment to compose himself as they drove before returning to the comm channel. "Sunny, is Spotter functional?"

_"Yeah, Sides let her live. She's lucky it was him and not me."_

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Smokescreen left Onslaught to wait on the street for the medic while he made his way into the house. The entryway and sitting room looked perfectly normal, as if his cousin hadn't just been assaulted in his home. His spark sank as he walked down the hall to the berthrooms. 

Prowl's door was pulled off the track and bent backward into the hallway. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had needed to fight their way into the room in order to save the black and white mech. He hoped he didn't look too scared when he stepped into the room, but the sheer amount of damage done to Prowl's things reinforced just how close Spotter had come to taking away the only family he had left. 

Sunstreaker looked up at him grimly from his place at Prowl's side. "Tell me that medic is coming."

Smokescreen nodded numbly as he took in his cousin's damage. He had no idea how Spotter had managed to rip half his chest plates off. "Yeah. Onslaught's going to meet them outside and escort them in."

"Good." The yellow mech looked back down at Prowl. "I have the bleeding stopped, but I can't keep him conscious. I think he's got some damage I can't see."

"Probably. Spotter was never as good as he is, but she trained in Circuit-Su when she was at the academy." The blue and yellow mech sighed. "How did we miss this, Sunny?"

Sunstreaker shrugged one shoulder. "She's good, apparently. If we hadn't come home early, she would have gotten away with it."

"Speaking of Spotter," Sideswipe interrupted, "Do you have some stasis cuffs? I'm really sick of sitting here holding her."

"Oh frag, I didn't even think." The detective removed a set of cuffs from his subspace and crossed the room to the red mech. "Here, let me get her."

The gladiator nodded and shifted so that Smokescreen could move in and put the cuffs on the femme's wrists. Spotter took that moment to buck, trying to fight her way loose. Sideswipe's grip was solid and she didn't get her wrists free, but the detective was close enough to bite.

Smokescreen howled and flung himself backward as her dental plates cut into the delicate plating of his hand. Energon sprayed briefly as the movement tore a chunk of plating and tubing out of the appendage.

"Frag it, Smokes!" Sideswipe swore as the Praxian knocked him off balance and Spotter squirmed out of his grasp. 

The femme was on her feet and sprinting out the door before any of the mechs in the room could stand.

The blue and yellow dropped to the ground, whimpering in pain. He didn't have the processing power left after the stress of the day to give chase. 

"Here, let me see," Sunstreaker said after a few long kliks. The yellow twin knelt down beside the detective and took Smokescreen's damaged hand in his.

"We have to catch her!" Sideswipe hissed angrily.

"Smokescreen and Prowl are more important right now," the artist said softly, carefully applying pressure to each of Smokey's damaged lines so that his self-repair would seal them closed. "We'll figure out what to do after that."

"The medic is here," Onslaught said from behind them. The twins looked up at the huge mech and saw Spotter's offline form dangling by her doorwings from his hand. "Also, I believe you lost something."

Sideswipe offered the Kaonite a weak smile. "Good thing you found it."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Onslaught stood guard over Prowl's berth at Praxus medical, intimidating the medics and nurses into visiting the room as minimally as possible and keeping out all mechs who were not part of his household. Sideswipe had thanked him for that before he had fallen into recharge at the commissioner's side a joor ago. Sunstreaker had said nothing, but the deputy recognized the signs of a warrior suppressing his rage in the yellow mech and decided to leave that for Smokescreen or Prowl to deal with.

"Did you know?" Smokescreen asked softly, looking at the blue and grey mech with a frown.

There were a hundred things the young mech's question could mean, but Onslaught felt sure that he knew what Smokescreen was asking. "I knew they were planning an assassination. I didn't know it was her."

"But you would have told us, if you had known?"

"I would have. I respect Prowl too much to keep such information from him." The deputy turned his full attention to the blue and yellow mech. "Blast Off began hearing rumors of a planned assassination a few cycles ago. Once we confirmed the rumors were true, we had planned to warn the commissioner. Our confirmation came too late to do more than minimize the damage."

"You should have said something!" Smokescreen snapped. "We could have prepared for this!"

"You could have prepared for your cousin's lover to attempt to murder him? I find that unlikely. Until tonight, we both believed she was a target as well."

"We could have done _something_."

"No, Smokescreen." Onslaught's tone was heavy. "We could not have foreseen this based on the data at hand. You must accept that before Prowl wakes. He will need your support, not your anger."

"Easier said than done."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Sideswipe's head flew up as Prowl stirred. He had set his sensors to pull him out of recharge if the black and white mech so much as twitched, and it looked like he was actually waking up now.

"Prowl?"

The Enforcer's optics flickered on slowly and Prowl turned to look at the red mech. "Sideswipe."

"Hi." The warrior couldn't keep the smile from his face. "How you feeling?"

Prowl shuttered his optics and turned his head away.

Sideswipe felt his smile die. "Yeah, sorry. That was the stupidest question I could have asked."

"I know how you meant it," the commissioner said softly. "I am simply not certain that I will ever be all right again."

"You will be," the red twin said. "You have me and Sunny and Smokes to help. We'll hold you up, just like you held us up."

"This is... different."

"Of course it is. But I don't have to have been through the same experience to help you." Sides reached out and took Prowl's hand, giving it a firm squeeze. "I mean, look at Sunny. You were never an artist or kidnapped and sold into slavery or a gladiator, but you helped him. Has he shown you any of his new drawings?"

"He has not. I didn't realize he was drawing again." The Praxian shifted uncomfortably. "It's more Smokescreen's doing than mine, in again my case."

"Prowl, he still wouldn't even talk to Smokescreen without you around when he started drawing again. You helped him." The Iaconian used his free hand to poke the other mech in the shoulder. "And you are deliberately trying to deflect me away from my point. That's not going to work this time."

"Sideswipe, please stop. You cannot help with this."

"I can, but clearly you don't _want_ help." The red mech resisted the urge to pull his hand away and leave in a huff. "Too bad. You have it anyway. I didn't take a knife for you just to abandon you later."

Prowl's optic shutters snapped open and he looked back to Sideswipe with shock. "She hurt you?"

"Yeah." The former gladiator lifted his arm so that the enforcer could see the patched coolant lines. "She was trying to get away after I tackled her. It didn't work, but it hurt like the pit."

"Sideswipe, I'm sorry. I never thought that you or your brother would be dragged into something like this. I wanted the two of you to never be hurt again."

"We can't stop all the hurts, Prowl. We can just be there to hold each other up after." Careful of Prowl's still-healing chest plates, Sideswipe leaned down and hugged him. "Getting stabbed didn't run me off. Nothing else will either."

"Thank you, Sideswipe." Prowl used his free hand to hold the red mech close for a moment.

"So, I have to ask, Prowl," the twin sat back up and looked at the other mech seriously. "What happened? Cause I've seen you kick Sunny's aft and we should not be here right now."

"She..." Prowl's ventilation hitched and he tried to pull his hand out of Sideswipe's grasp. When he failed to pull away, he shuttered his optics again. "She assaulted me after we had interfaced. I think I might have been in shock, because I was not able to classify her as a threat until it was too late."

"That is low, even for someone like her." The red mech squeezed his friend's hand tightly, choking back all the threats he wanted to make. Wishing he had just killed her at the house would probably only hurt Prowl right now. "Not sure I wouldn't have reacted the same way, though. We all trusted her so much."

"I'm tired," Prowl said softly. 

Sideswipe knew it was an evasion to shut the conversation down, but he wasn't sure he wanted to keep going either. Keeping Prowl talking would probably do more damage than good right now. "Sure, Prowl. You recharge. Onslaught and I will be here when you wake up."

Prowl squeezed his hand once in response, then let himself fall back into recharge.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

**_File Received 5.21.145R  
File Sent 5.21.145R _**

Agent compromised, target still active. Instructions?

**File Received 5.21.145R  
File Sent 5.21.145R**

Target too hot. Return to wait status. Remove agent if opportunity arrives.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"Sunny?"

Sunstreaker turned to look at Smokescreen, expression so dark that the detective understood exactly why there were no nurses left in the hallway.

The Praxian held up his injured hand. "The surgeon says they have an opening to repair this, but they may have to put me under. I'd feel a lot better if I knew you were standing guard while they worked."

The yellow mech flicked a glance toward Prowl's room. "You trust Onslaught?"

"Yeah, as much as I trust you and Sides."

"All right." The warrior moved to his side. "Lead the way."

"They're waiting in the next hall." Smokescreen looked toward Prowl's room--still worried about his cousin, despite his guards and the fact that he had been awake and talking to Sideswipe earlier--before turning back the way he had come. "Thanks for this. And for saving him."

Sunstreaker grunted noncommittally in reply. Smokescreen didn't try to drag anything else out of him.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Barrage pushed Spotter through the door of the highest security cell and slammed it closed behind her. "The medic will be by to tend your wounds shortly."

"Don't bother," the femme replied, doorwings drooping in defeat. "It won't matter in a few cycles, anyway."

"No, I suspect it won't." The Insecticon turned and began walking away. "But you will not die because of negligence on the part of the Enforcers."

Spotter moved to the tiny recharge slab--barely more than a bench and not enough to call a berth--and flopped down on it. Silently, she curled up in a miserable ball to await her fate.


End file.
